2001 Day 9 - Melbourne, Great Ocean Road

Tonight is my last night in my second favourite city in Australia, after my own city, Perth. I really am going to miss this place and it's with some sadness that I realise I may not get to come here again for another couple of years. Melbourne's a big city with a soul, unlike Sydney which just comes across to me as lifeless and somehow having lost its way amidst the hustle and bustle. This is my 2nd time in Melbourne - the first being in 1997 living with my ex - and it's probably the only other city where I've genuinely felt at home.

To complete last night's entry, I went down to the Flinders Street station and listened to Chris the busker for around 2 hours, then walked home. This must be one of the few cities where you can walk home at 1am without having to seriously worry about your personal safety (that being said, I did take precautions anyway)

Today was the Great Ocean Road, which runs all the way from Torquay (about 100km SW of Melbourne) to Warrnambool (around 350km west). We didn't go all the way to Warrnambool - we went only to Port Campbell. But the views were magnificent. Huge limestone natural monuments formed by the relentless Bass Strait (between Victoria and Tasmania) and the Southern Ocean (which goes to Antarctica), coloured with the minerals in Australia's soils, meant there was some real sites to see.

I don't really have time to go through all of them, but it was mindblowing, that is for sure. If you want to have a look, go look on Google for pictures of the London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles, Otley Ranges, or the Surf Coast.

Tomorrow at 1:25pm local time, I am off to Canberra. I really wish I'd had more time in Melbourne now - due to the way the flights work I spend one day more in Canberra than either of the other cities, but there is less to do there.